


Masks

by CannibaLilly



Series: Goretober 2017 [3]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Gen, cursed item
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 17:01:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12258447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannibaLilly/pseuds/CannibaLilly
Summary: Valkyrie meets someone at the Requiem Ball. She wishes she hadn't.Day three of my Goretober challenge!





	Masks

**Author's Note:**

> Goretober Rating: (5/10). A personal childhood trauma of mine. Not too horrible, if it's not a pet-peeve of yours.

At the Requiem Ball, Valkyrie met all sorts of people. Right upon entering, she spotted a lady with only one eye. It wasn't like the other eye was missing. She simply only had her left eye and in the place where her right eye should have been, there was only skin stretched over her skull. Before she could ask Skulduggery about this person, she vanished into the crowd and Valkyrie never saw her again.

 

Another person she would have loved to hear the story of was a man who vanished when he turned around. It was almost as if this person was two dimensional. If looked at from the right angle, Valkyrie saw him, but then he turned and vanished from sight.

 

Despite her initial reluctance to join any kind of ball, Valkyrie figured she enjoyed herself well enough. If nothing else, it was fascinating to find out more about the different people, their jobs, and, of course, the gossip. Like, who hated whom, who had tried to kill whom and so forth.

 

The only story Valkyrie learned that evening she could have done without, was that of Peter Zwielicht. The first time she met him was at the buffet. She was just loading her plate with quiches when Mr Zwielicht caught her eye.

 

He was a male mage of average height. He wore a dark suite and matching shoes. His sandy hair was neatly combed back. The only thing about him that was odd was the fact that his face was hidden behind a white mask with an eerie grin painted over it like a gash. The first moment Valkyrie's eyes met the painted-on eyes of the mask, she winced.

 

“My apologies,” Zwielicht said in the softest voice. “This appearance of mine usually startles those who are not used to it.”

 

“N-no, I wasn't startled, just,” Valkyrie thought for a moment. “Surprised.”

 

Zwielicht tilted his head and Valkyrie's years of experience in reading Skulduggery's mimicless face helped her to understand he was probably smiling.

 

“My name is Peter Zwielicht,” he introduced himself and they shook hands.

 

“I'm Valkyrie Cain.”

 

“Of course you are. Who hasn't heard of the famous partner of Skulduggery Pleasant.”

 

Valkyrie was about to open her mouth when Skulduggery stepped over to them as if he had heard them talking about him.

 

“Zwielicht,” he said in such a cold tone, Valkyrie stared at him.

 

“Skulduggery,” Zwielicht said, just as softly as before, and bowed his head. “Good to see you are well.”

 

“Who invited you?” Skulduggery asked.

 

“Peter Zwielicht still has friends in our community. Even though you do not count yourself as one anymore.”

 

“I used to be Peter's friend, but not yours.” Skulduggery replied and then turned to Valkyrie. “I think we should leave. I haven't seen China tonight.”

 

They left Zwielicht alone without saying good-bye. “What happened between you and that guy?” Valkyrie asked, the second they were out of ear-shot.

 

“Nothing. As I said, Peter and I used to be friends.”

 

“Then what was _that_?”

 

Skulduggery stopped and Valkyrie did the same. He had tilted his head at a new angle. “The person you just met used to be a very skilled mage. His name was Peter Zwielicht. One night, Peter and I happened to find ourselves in the castle of one of Mevolent's associates in Germany.”

 

“Happened to find yourselves?” Valkyrie echoed.

 

“We broke into it.”

 

“I see.”

 

“We found the castle abandoned, the associate had taken a plane to Ireland the day before, but that was something I didn't find out until later. That night Peter made the mistake to play around with one of the artefacts we confiscated in the German castle.

 

It was a mask that hung on the wall. He put it on, to scare me I assume, but he didn't get that far. The moment he put the mask on it started attaching itself to himself.”

 

“Attach?” Valkyrie gaped. “Like what?”

 

“We don't know for certain. No mage so far has been able to find out how this mask works, let alone remove it. All I know is that that night in the castle, Peter suddenly started screaming. By the time I had found him in the living room his screams had turned to gurgling. He was trying to pry the mask off again, clawing at his face and head in the process. When I got to him, his hands were covered in blood, but it was too late. The mask wouldn't come off.

 

I tried what I could, but within minutes, the mask started melting into his face. I tried to talk to Peter, told him to calm down, but with every second that past the frantic man who tried to free himself dissolved before me.

 

It was like watching someone with Alzheimer’s disease, just in time-lapse. First he screamed for my help, then for his fiancé. Within moments he was sobbing, wanting to know where he was, begged me to get that thing off him. By the time I realized there was nothing for me to do to help him, he had fallen to his knees, uselessly pulling on the mask, and now he was talking to someone that wasn't me. 'Get off me', he repeated over and over, but I needn't tell you, in the end he stopped talking altogether. I assumed he was dead, at least mentally. We brought him to Kenspeckle, but there was nothing the doctor could do either.”

 

“Then who is that?” Valkyrie asked with a tight throat. She didn't dare look back at the masked man. It was ridiculous, but she almost expected the mask to come flying at her, now that she knew its story.

 

“The body of Peter Zwielicht started moving at Kenspeckle’s a few hours later. Kenspeckle ran some tests and said he was perfectly healthy, except for two things. First, he was no longer able to use magic and second, the mask had grown onto his face, impossible to remove if one didn't want to kill Peter.

 

Those who used to know Peter before the incident however could attest that the person with the mask was no longer the man they used to know. He wasn't just changed, this wasn't Peter Zwielicht anymore.”

 

“Do you mean it was the...”

 

“The mask, yes.” Skulduggery put his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “It still went by the name of Peter Zwielicht and some people wanted so desperately to believe Peter was okay that he was welcomed back into our society. Only a few were desperate enough however. Most of us know that Peter Zwielicht died that night in the castle in Germany.”

 

Goosebumps had spread over Valkyrie's arms and she rubbed them. She threw a glance back at Zwielicht who was standing alone in a corner, swaying to the music. Now that she knew what to look for, Valkyrie could see the scars around the rim of the mask. Deep scars as though someone had badly scratched the skin. “And no-one knew such masks existed?” she asked.

 

Skulduggery shook his head. “There are many magical artefacts in our world that we cannot possibly know of. Or fathom the way they work.”

 

“So that's what I'm supposed to learn from this story? You can never know what's out there, trying to kill you in unbelievably gruesome ways?”

 

Skulduggery tsked. “Peter didn't die to teach you a lesson, Valkyrie. However, if you must learn something, how about: Don't play around with things you don't know in the castle of evil mages.”


End file.
